he wants to be left alone, Kate,” Dad said.
“Yeah, but I need to take him out.”
“In your robe?” He arched a brow. “You’re not making any sense, Kate.”
“Well, I’ll get dressed again,” I replied somewhat desperately.
This wasn’t going well. I pulled the periodic-table robe more tightly around myself, grabbed the dog, and tugged. He bit me. Not really hard, because he wasn’t that kind of dog, but enough of a nip that it drew some blood. I yelped and withdrew my hand.
“Armstrong, bad!” Dad exclaimed, rolling up a piece of paper and tapping the dog on the hind end with it. I was surprised when he reached across the desk and biffed me on the head too. I put my hand to my scalp like the paper might have damaged me. “And you should know better, Kate. I told you he didn’t want to be disturbed.”
“Sorry,” I said, but my attention was on Armstrong. He picked up a huge piece of rawhide shaped like an egg roll, gave me a reproachful glance, and walked out into the hall. I gaped at him for a minute before stooping to look under the desk. There was no sign of the foot. Just a couple of scattered bits of dog chew.
After a quick meltdown in the bathroom, I went downstairs. When I turned the corner at the bottom of the basement steps, Jonah leapt at me, waving a plastic bag in my face.
I’d never been so happy to see a Country Market bag in my life.
“It’s a foot! A foot!” He kept waving the bag around like he was the newest member of the flag corp. My unnatural fraternal tolerance quickly wore off. I snatched the bag away and barely restrained myself from hitting him with it.
“Enough! It’s a foot. I get it. Now give it to me so I can hide it in my underwear drawer before we get arrested for possession of dismembered body parts.”
“You’re no fun.” He sulked.
“I don’t have time for fun. I’ve got to prove there’s a communicable disease that makes people act like zombies and figure out how it’s spreading before everyone’s infected. So you’ll have to excuse me for not capering around like an idiot, okay?”
“Okay.” He sat down in his computer chair, looking up at me from under a fringe of overlong hair. I would have been more inclined to take him seriously if he didn’t look like such a wimpy emo-geek hybrid. And the fifteen empty cans of Mountain Dewthat ringed his keyboard didn’t exactly contribute to an air of responsibility. “What can I do?”
“Nothing, Jonah.”
“That’s no fair! You never let me have any fun, and I saved your butt today. Twice! I deserve—”
“Wait a minute.” I held up a hand. “There is something you can do. If you’re interested.”
“What? I’ll do anything.” He was so excited he practically panted.
“Say I wanted to hack into a teacher’s computer. Could you do that?”
“Are you kidding? I hacked into the duct-tape guy’s Roargan Kross account and stole his Ring of Righteous Kills out from under his nose. I can get into anything. Are you talking a remote hack, or do you have physical access to the hard drive?”
“Well, I don’t exactly have it in my pocket. I guess we could wait until tomorrow morning if we had to, but I’d rather not. Could you do it from here?”
“If it was important enough.”
“You’ve seen what’s at stake.” I paused. I was pretty sure he’d do it, but I couldn’t resist adding a little extra incentive. “If Kiki isn’t infected yet, she probably will be soon. It’s spreading fast.”
The thought of a footless Kiki was too much for Jonah to bear. “You can count on me,” he said. His voice cracked midsentence. It actually made me feel better. He sounded like a total computer geek, and that was exactly what I needed.
“Good,” I said. “Coach gave some of the varsity players injectionsfrom a bunch of unmarked vials, and I think that’s how the infection started. I need to know where he got those vials. I’m trying to put a packet of information together to
“Yeah, but I need to take him out.”
“In your robe?” He arched a brow. “You’re not making any sense, Kate.”
“Well, I’ll get dressed again,” I replied somewhat desperately.
This wasn’t going well. I pulled the periodic-table robe more tightly around myself, grabbed the dog, and tugged. He bit me. Not really hard, because he wasn’t that kind of dog, but enough of a nip that it drew some blood. I yelped and withdrew my hand.
“Armstrong, bad!” Dad exclaimed, rolling up a piece of paper and tapping the dog on the hind end with it. I was surprised when he reached across the desk and biffed me on the head too. I put my hand to my scalp like the paper might have damaged me. “And you should know better, Kate. I told you he didn’t want to be disturbed.”
“Sorry,” I said, but my attention was on Armstrong. He picked up a huge piece of rawhide shaped like an egg roll, gave me a reproachful glance, and walked out into the hall. I gaped at him for a minute before stooping to look under the desk. There was no sign of the foot. Just a couple of scattered bits of dog chew.
After a quick meltdown in the bathroom, I went downstairs. When I turned the corner at the bottom of the basement steps, Jonah leapt at me, waving a plastic bag in my face.
I’d never been so happy to see a Country Market bag in my life.
“It’s a foot! A foot!” He kept waving the bag around like he was the newest member of the flag corp. My unnatural fraternal tolerance quickly wore off. I snatched the bag away and barely restrained myself from hitting him with it.
“Enough! It’s a foot. I get it. Now give it to me so I can hide it in my underwear drawer before we get arrested for possession of dismembered body parts.”
“You’re no fun.” He sulked.
“I don’t have time for fun. I’ve got to prove there’s a communicable disease that makes people act like zombies and figure out how it’s spreading before everyone’s infected. So you’ll have to excuse me for not capering around like an idiot, okay?”
“Okay.” He sat down in his computer chair, looking up at me from under a fringe of overlong hair. I would have been more inclined to take him seriously if he didn’t look like such a wimpy emo-geek hybrid. And the fifteen empty cans of Mountain Dewthat ringed his keyboard didn’t exactly contribute to an air of responsibility. “What can I do?”
“Nothing, Jonah.”
“That’s no fair! You never let me have any fun, and I saved your butt today. Twice! I deserve—”
“Wait a minute.” I held up a hand. “There is something you can do. If you’re interested.”
“What? I’ll do anything.” He was so excited he practically panted.
“Say I wanted to hack into a teacher’s computer. Could you do that?”
“Are you kidding? I hacked into the duct-tape guy’s Roargan Kross account and stole his Ring of Righteous Kills out from under his nose. I can get into anything. Are you talking a remote hack, or do you have physical access to the hard drive?”
“Well, I don’t exactly have it in my pocket. I guess we could wait until tomorrow morning if we had to, but I’d rather not. Could you do it from here?”
“If it was important enough.”
“You’ve seen what’s at stake.” I paused. I was pretty sure he’d do it, but I couldn’t resist adding a little extra incentive. “If Kiki isn’t infected yet, she probably will be soon. It’s spreading fast.”
The thought of a footless Kiki was too much for Jonah to bear. “You can count on me,” he said. His voice cracked midsentence. It actually made me feel better. He sounded like a total computer geek, and that was exactly what I needed.
“Good,” I said. “Coach gave some of the varsity players injectionsfrom a bunch of unmarked vials, and I think that’s how the infection started. I need to know where he got those vials. I’m trying to put a packet of information together to
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